New offficer, Seeing the Excal the first time: "Dreadnaught!"
Old Officer, cringing at the 'D' word, "Enhanced Deterrant Explorer!"
NO: "Dreadnaught!"
OO: "Enhanced Deterrant Explorer!"
MCPO watching the exchange: "And so on and so on. Who cares what the name is? It's gets us along way, carries guns big enough to make potential enemies sweat, and can spot and research just about anything under the stars."
NO: "That.....thing makes the Federation look like warmongers!"
MCPO: "That's not for me to consider, sir. To me she looks like something which will bring my people back alive and keep them safe, so I'm kinda partial to the Lady, sir. And Dreadnaught was the name of ship back in the old days, so I fail to see the problem."
OO: "Dreadnaught sounds militaristic, Chief. We are not a military organization."
MCPO: "Umm....with respect, Sir: just who defended the Federation from the Dominion Axis? And the Borg? And the Romulans? And the Cardassians? Just because we don't like the sound of the word doesn't make it true. But then, I'm enlisted, what to I know?"
OO: "You have gift for being blunt, Chief."
MCPO: "I deal in Essentials, Sir. Keeps me and the enlisted breathing."
NO: "And bordering on insubordination."
MCPO: "Well, if that's going to come up again, Could you let Admr. Harriman know I'll watch his kids again while he figures out why you had me up on charges, Sir."
Good job on the design, matt
A brave little theory, and actually quite coherent for a system of five or seven dimensions -- if only we lived in one.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "Now We Are Alone"